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The Buddy System

By Patrick Healy December 2, 2007 6:26 pmDecember 2, 2007 6:26 pm

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa – Hillary Rodham Clinton just finished a campaign event that was unlike any I’ve seen with her before.

For one thing, she expressed just a hint of modesty about her political future, days after she confidently told CBS’s Katie Couric that she would be the Democratic presidential nominee (“It will be me”).

“Now I know that this is a close race here in Iowa – I think that makes it more exciting and makes your role even more important,” she told a couple of hundred supporters here this afternoon. Speaking of the Jan. 3 caucus night process, she added: “If people say I’m for her but I’ve never done it before, or it sounds too hard, or they say I think I’ll stay home and watch the Orange Bowl, we may not have that chance to make history” – referring to her goal of becoming the first female Democratic nominee and president.
The event here today was also a new one. It was called “Take Your Buddy to Caucus,” and it basically involved Mrs. Clinton – in spirited pitchman mode – exhorting and instructing her audience about how to participate in the Jan. 3 Iowa caucuses, and asking them to recruit “buddies” who will come along and support Mrs. Clinton on caucus night as well. She also invited two women to the stage who extolled their buddy-buddy relationship.

Cards were left on the seats here. People were asked to sign a card saying they would be a “Buddy for Hillary Clinton for President,” and in doing so commit to the following:

* Call my buddy twice before caucus night.
* Write and mail a reminder postcard to my buddy reminding him or her about caucus night.
* Make a plan to ride with my buddy to the caucus or meet at the caucus site.

Winning the Iowa caucuses has always been, in large part, about which candidate has the best ground organization, and Mrs. Clinton – whose supporters include a number of caucus newcomers – is trying to insure that these people turn out on caucus night to support her.

Also new today were the empty seats. Usually Mrs. Clinton’s events are standing room only, but there were about 40 empty seats out of a couple hundred. Many people in the audience, when asked by Mrs. Clinton, identified themselves as county leaders or precinct captains for her campaign. The weather was nasty here on Saturday and roads and pavement remain somewhat icy, but – given that I haven’t seen it before – it seemed worth noting that it was not a full house.

For the people assembled, Mrs. Clinton opened by saying of the caucuses, “we’re in a tight race, this is exciting, and I think it’s just going to be a race to the finish line.” She then spent a minute or so recalling a scene from “one of my favorite movies,” the ’90s flick “A League of Their Own,” where Geena Davis is about to leave her women’s baseball team to go home with her war veteran husband. Tom Hanks, playing her coach, pleads with her not to leave just before the baseball World Series.

“Geena Davis says, ‘It’s just so hard.’ Tom Hanks says, ‘It’s supposed to be hard. If it weren’t hard anybody could do it,’” Mrs. Clinton said, drawing the comparison with those people who feel that the caucuses are a difficult process.

History will look back on all this and say that Leeland Eisenberg was the turning point.

The negative energy flowing from and around Mrs. Clinton is too much for this nation.

The tide will go out and leave her on the stage standing alone in the bright light saying…

‘It’s just so hard to keep this up. I’ve spent 35 years telling everyone exactly what they should do. Now they expect me to wait till Jan. 3rd when everyday people will decide. This is nonsense. Don’t they know how much EXPERIENCE I have. Didn’t they see how well I communicated with the New Hampshire state police. I can rule this nation and the world. Now bake a casserole and find some “buddies” to stand in a corner and say how great I am. Sign those cards on your seat. I’m on my way to the White House and you all do as I say.’

Senator Clinton is right on the money! Most Americans are with you Senator–at least those of us not fooled by the smoke and mirrors of “other” campaigns. Campaigns that have a character and memory problem by accusing the Senator of believing that the Office of President is something owed to them, when it has been widely reported that:

Immediately after joining the Senate, Sen. Obama started planning to run for President:

“‘The first order of business for Obama’s team was charting a course for his first two years in the Senate. The game plan was to send Obama into the 2007-2008 election cycle in the strongest form possible,’ writes [David] Mendell in his forthcoming bio Obama: From Promise to Power…The final act of the plan was turning up the talk about a potential presidential bid, which was greatly aided by his positive press and suggestions by pundits that he run for president.” [U.S. News and World Report, 6/19/07]

His law school classmates say that Sen. Obama has been planning presidential run for ‘more than a decade':

“[A]ccording to those who know him, he has been talking about the presidency for more than a decade. ‘It was clear to me from the day I met him that he was thinking about politics,’ says Harvard Law School classmate Christine Spurell.” [Washington Post, 8/12/07]

15 years ago, Sen. Obama told his brother-in-law he was planning to run for president:

Sen. Obama’s brother-in-law, Craig [Robinson], pulled Sen. Obama aside [in 1992] and asked about his plans. “He said, ‘I think I’d like to teach at some point in time, and maybe run for public office,’ recalls Robinson, who assumed Obama meant he’d like to run for city alderman. ‘He said no — at some point he’d like to run for the U.S. Senate. And then he said, ‘Possibly even run for president at some point.’ And I was like, ‘Okay, but don’t say that to my Aunt Gracie.’ I was protecting him from saying something that might embarrass him.” [Washington Post, 8/12/07]

In third grade, Sen. Obama wrote an essay titled ‘I Want To Be a President':

Sen. Obama’s third grade teacher, Fermina Katarina Sinaga, “asked her class to write an essay titled ‘My dream: What I want to be in the future.’ Obama wrote ‘I want to be a president,’ she said.” [The Los Angeles Times, 3/15/07]

In kindergarten, Sen. Obama wrote an essay titled ‘I Want to Become President':

“Iis Darmawan, 63, Obama’s kindergarten teacher, remembers him as an exceptionally tall and curly haired child who quickly picked up the local language and had sharp math skills. He wrote an essay titled, ‘I Want To Become President,’ the teacher said.” [AP, 1/25/07]

Thanks for the coverage, Mr. Healy, made me feel like I’d been there, and it was nice not to have a strongly pro-Hillary piece as we often see. The buddy system thing is a good idea, should help her out.

On the other hand, I thought “A League of Their Own” was tedious and mediocre (not a baseball fan tho), and if people think caucuses are a “difficult process”, it sure shows how dumb and lazy America is getting.

And Gilberto (#2), I think the aura of arrogance you perceived was probably Couric’s. She’s smart and cute and all, but she’s had a massive chip on her shoulder since switching networks… didn’t seem nearly this arrogant a few years ago.

This sounds like a great way to get more Iowan people to go caucus for Hillary! Too bad Obama is trying to recruit people from other states to go vote for him in Iowa. Sounds like he’s scared.

Hillary has the strength and experience to make real change happen. Just like she has the experience to know that her Universal Health care plan covers everyone, while on the other hand Obama’s leaves out 15 million. It’s time we had a president where NO ONE is invisible!

This is the beginning of the end for Hillary, and before it’s over we will see a side of her that she thought was dead and buried. “Desperate people do desperate things, and her unbridled ambition to be President will cause her to illustrate this maxim in spite of herself. On some level, the American people have always known about this, even kept under wraps. They know, that as President she would be ILL-CAST. I pray that she does not become a study in pathos, which would be sad, and which would harm her politically.

She really ought to go run General Motors or Citibank, or some top-down international corporation where superior intelligence, fire, and steel resolve are required for astounding success. Or she could become one of the most powerful New York Senators of all time, and make the history books as a bold leader. It is a tragic fact for her, that she is “out of time” for the position she most covets.

Hillary is tough and will climb this mountain – even this one in Iowa. I am not worried with the triple tie in the polls – the lead changing within the margin of error. So if you want drama – this ain’t it, folks.

The drama comes AFTER Iowa and New Hampshire with California getting their absentee ballots as early as the first week in January.

Hillary was not just going to glide to the nomination without some minor bump. She will be the Democratic nominee. Obama does not have the experience, and experience matters. His consistent shadying of the truth is not going by unnoticed, although the media refuse to admit that too many of us are smart enough to know it.

Matt, how much did you get paid by the Clinton campaign to write that post? You just parroted all of their talking points, word for word. Coincidence? Pretty sad the Clinton campaign has to plant fake blog comments too.

“If people say I’m for her but I’ve never done it before, or it sounds too hard, or they say I think I’ll stay home and watch the Orange Bowl, we may not have that chance to make history”

Just by this statement alone, it appears that Hillary is ready to make the argument that it is more important that History be made in electing the First Woman US President than electing a more substantial candidate.

Another example is the use of scenes from “A League of their Own.” – a genuine Gender Card was pulled from her sleeve.
Anybody who has watched that movie knows it is a classic and a large statement about Women empowerment. But considering the way Hillary has used the Gender Card previously – you have to wonder if using the Gender Card is more of a detriment to her campaign than a boost; if there will be a negative reaction among professional and more experienced women for Hillary’s use and reliance on sympathy of being the “vulnerable” female in a crowd full of men, instead of putting veritable arguments to her qualification for the Top Job.

To me, Hillary’s use of being the possible First Female US President is similar to how previous black candidates have used their race as an argument for why they should be President – namely Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, where they argued that in being black they would be able to offer more equal representation to minorities in the upper chambers of the US Government, instead of focusing on the issues affecting all Americans; at least, the current black Presidential Candidate is not using his racial identity or his possible place in History to argue why he would be the best candidate to be President but the issues that bind as all (blacks, whites, asians, women, men, gays, etc.) as Americans.

For the USA, a mostly white country especially in its history, to be led by a multiracial black man would really make history! In fact, it would be a first anywhere in the world, compared to a woman leader, which has happened already in many countries. Yet Obama has the good taste to avoid making the race into race. Hillary has no such compunctions about trying to turn the race into gender.

Did you take the time to read that Hillary statement before copying and pasting it here? The total absurdity of Hillary digging up Obama’s KINDERGARTEN essay as a way to attack him went right over your head, eh?

This latest “attack” is beyond pathetic. The Hillary campaign has degenerated into something literally laughable. This is something I would expect from one of the late night comics. Of course what Obama said in kindergarten is not relevant at all, since many kids at a young age say they want to be president. I guess Hillary cannot tell the difference between adults and children. Hillary is digging her own political grave now.

Now I see why tne NYT is cool toward Hillary.
The Obama and Edwards camps are obviously “freeping” that is on standby to generate a ton of anti Hillary posts here.
The purpose is to give the illusion of groundswell.

Obama and Edwards are running the most negative, Rove style
campaign that I have seen in my lifetime.

Judging by the way they are getting their followers to conduct themselves in the blogs and all over the web, God help the democratic party, and this country.

She will not win the nomination. She is just negative.Period! Look at what is happening today. She wants to concentrate to continuing the fights from the 90’s.Cannot trust her for tit-for-tat mentality.THAT IS UNACCEPTABLE!!

You don’t expect to attack someone’s character and distort the other persons claims and expect to bag this nomination.

This is it! The rest of the candidates can fight decently for that nomination.

Sorry, my speaking the truth makes you mad. Maybe if Obama’s people, like you, stopped hating on Hillary all the time. I wouldn’t have to keep making this CLEAR…
Obama’s health care plan does NOT cover everyone… He leaves out 15 million. I’m sorry, but if your for a candidate that ignores what is best for the country, AND not to mention, creates PAC’s to give money from LOBBYISTS to other candidates so they will endorse him… Whatever happened to that new kind of politics?? Not to mention the politics of hope…hmm?

I re-state my case. Hillary’s got the strength and experience to make REAL change happen.

There’s an interesting media dynamic at work here, and it’s this: the closer this race becomes, the less ‘inevitable’ Hillary looks as a candidate, the more courageous (dare I say ‘honest’) major journalists who cover her can become. Why? Because her campaign’s threats of limiting access become less potent. Political journalists don’t quake in fear that p’ing off Team Hillary will mean they’ll be frozen out of general election coverage.

An unrelated point: whose supporters’ comments in these forums come off as authentic, and whose come off as canned? These forums give me hope that free thinkers out there have found a candidate — now it’s time for the rest of the primary voters to come around.

It is interesting when people criticize Hillary for being negative while the other candidates have been endlessly and relentlessly questioning her honesty instead of focussing on the Republicans. While I am against negative campaigning, there is just as much as you can take.
I believe it is a good thing that the races have become competitive. It is a good practice for whoever the Democratic candidate will be ‘cos the fact is that the Republicans will be extremely mean.

This event highlights a truth that isn’t apparent in the Register’s poll numbers–but does come out in the “internal” polling being conducted by the campaigns–of the top three candidate, significant percentages of the people expressing support for Hillary–and to a somewhat lesser extent, Obama–have never caucused before.

And as any serious observer of the historical patterns of caucusing in Iowa will tell you–significant percentages of people who haven’t caucused before still won’t have on January 4th.

That–combined with the fact that Hillary’s campaign has to call out the campaign staff to make this event look well attended–really should give pause to anyone still in the dwindling crowd of people who bought into the she’s inevitable strategy.

I am personally still convinced that which ever candidate comes forward with a clear, compelling and coherent plan for moving the country forward–with serious, detailed proposals on how she/he plans to tackle the top five problems facing this country (sorry Tancredo–immigration isn’t on the list) won’t need to advocate supporters resort to a buddy system–they will win the nomination–and the presidency–by a landslide.

And I’d put my money on either Edwards or Obama being the one to pull it off.

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